One of the most common reasons we see women in our chiropractic wellness center is for issues revolving around poor cycles. This can range from heavy and painful cramping in teenagers to women who just skip or simply don’t have any menstruation whatsoever. There a multiple reasons why these situations happen, and with our focus on neurology, we can generally trace them back to get to the root cause and get these women back on the road to normalcy. Whether a patient just simply wants to go through that famous time of the month with more ease and fewer drugs or pain relievers, or a woman is trying to get off birth control in order to start a family, chiropractic can help.

First off, we must clearly define what is normal and healthy before we begin this discussion.  If a female is of child-bearing age, then she should be able to get pregnant. If she cannot, then that is a sign that the body is not at an optimum level of health. Hold on! I get it. I don’t want my daughters having babies at 15 years old in today’s culture!  I’m simply saying that regular menstrual cycles that produce eggs are an important sign of a healthy body.

Did you know that the main reason why teenage girls go on birth control is to treat painful cramping? The birth control stops the regular hormone cascade, blocking the cycle and therefore making the body unfit to conceive a child. So again, remember that most women start this drug not even for birth control… they start because they are not adapting well to the pain from their cycle, and are taking a plethora of pain meds every month.

While it is normal to have some discomfort, it is not normal for our teenage girls to have so much pain that they are prescribed a hormone altering prescription drug to mask the pain. I will not go too deep on the long term side effects of birth control, and I would urge those who want a more natural and still same form of family planning to read the book, “Take Charge of your Fertility, ” especially the chapter on natural family planning.

When a woman simply stops having her cycle altogether even though she has not been taking birth control, or is menstruating, but seems to skip her cycle a lot, the cause is an imbalance in the body’s ability to adapt to normal levels of stress, which leads to a sustained sympathetic tone or “defense physiology.” When this happens, the body is now in a chronic state of fight or flight, so the body does not perceive it a safe time to have a baby.

The causes are multiple, not just limited to one. For example, I recently had a nurse come in from a local hospital. She had been working the night shift for years, and then switched to days, so her sleep was off, on top of a demanding job. This woman’s cycles just stopped dead in their tracks, and she also experienced poor sleep and headaches. Once we measured her sustained sympathetic tone, we started adjusting her, and within a week she was already spotting. She was stunned!

Not all cases clear up so quickly, and some of you may be wondering: “how can a chiropractic adjustment do that?” Well, it’s simple… On the other side of a complex issue.

You see, when the body falls out of its normal tone, like a guitar that needs a tune up, its notes don’t play right. Chiropractic is really about changing the tone of the nervous system so it can free up defense physiology stress, which pulls on ligaments and tendons causing the hormones to be in “fight or flight.” This brings cortisol up and other hormones, like dopamine and serotonin down, which not only causes the person to be lethargic, but also potentially anxious or depressed – to say nothing of the effects on the menstrual cycle.

Whether you are someone trying to get your cycle back on track after years of birth control or you have a teenager or college student who is only taking prescription birth control to block pain, then you owe it to yourself to fix this problem forever with regular chiropractic care.

You would need to see an office that runs neurology scores, like SEMG, thermal, and HRV testing.  While almost all great chiropractors are great with headaches, back pain, sciatica, and the like,not all offices specialize in women’s health or measure with these tests, so make sure you ask if they specialize in that when you schedule your visit. If you are not in Chicago area, then feel free to private message our office for a referral to another doctor in your area!